PIT STOP: I am conflicted about ER: Nightreign

    As the title implies, I am very conflicted about Elden Ring: Nightreign. Part of me loves the characters aka the Nightfarers. Each character appeals to me and out of the last 2, the Executor seems tailor made for me because they seem to be the samurai/ parry-based class. I also love how its just not new DLC but a completely different gameplay experience.

Oh when will we know more.

    This overview video also talks about different objectives that unlocks more lore/ cool stuff, being able to customize your Nightfarer and even throwbacks to previous armor sets from Dark Souls. All this sounds amazing and the cheaper price also lessens the blow compared to everyone charging $80 for new games now. However we have reached where I am anxious about it and conflicted as well.

    First, a lot of the feedback about this game has been mostly negative especially online. Be it the game reuses to many assets, that it is a battle-royale trying to cash in on the BR craze and even that it isn't that pretty and the graphics look outdated which is fair but the fans of From Software games do not play the game for graphics, we play it for the art design. Honestly non of the previous points affect me at all, no it is the almost forced team aspect of it.

    As a person who enjoyed playing FromSoft games on their own with next to know help from real players, this aspect of the game is what gives me the most pause into picking it up. Sure, I have heard you can play solo but the game is not designed for that and I believe it might be like a Remnant 2 situation again where playing solo is to your detriment. I have a couple friends who like FS games but a dedicated group to play with does not sound viable so I will be forced to team up with randoms which I really do not want to do.

    If Nightreign was a dedicated solo game with optional co-op this would be on my day 1 list of games I would love to play. I like rogue-lite games, I like FromSoft formula and so much of it appeals to me but deep down I have a feeling I will be let down because I can not play the game how I like and combine this with a general 'meh-ness' from the general public this might be a miss for FromSoft which is a real shame. Hopefully I am wrong and I'll post a blog later this month when it gets released that I love it and it is do-able solo but still I am conflicted in a way I have never been about a FS game.

AV

Rave: The Hex

     The Hex is a unique mind-trip which could have only been conjured up by the twisted mind of Daniel Mullin Games (DMG). The same folks who made the amazing (RAVE) Inscryption which I have recently confessed to my wife maybe in my top 10 favorite games of all time to the good but flawed Pony Island (which I gave an OKAY rating last February, time flies right). I always wanted to finish the Daniel Mullin's trilogy so when 2025 dawned I decided to go ahead and do it. The Hex is a great concept and almost got the highest praise from this blog but I had issues with it that moved it back to just Rave instead of RAVE.  Let me explain why. Preface as well, I will be referencing my previous reviews of DMG games a lot in this Rave so if you have not read them, do check them out as well.

OKAY: Pony Island

RAVE: Inscryption

    Before we dive in, lets chat about spoilers. This review will talk about every aspect of the game and that means I will give away a lot. I highly recommend that if you have a real interest in playing it to play it yourself first, as 'blind' as possible and then come back to this review. Unlike my Inscryption review, which I felt is still a relatively new game, I did not wanted to give away too much of it mystic but The Hex has been out for at least 7 years now so if you are looking for an review of The Hex in the year of our lord 2025, you know what you are getting yourself into.

    At its core, The Hex is a murder mystery, a narrative driven experience with fourth wall breaks galore, a trademark of DMG. Like Pony Island before it, The Hex has a very simplistic look and a very simple interface but underneath the surface however lies a lot of depth and a story which once it pulls you in will compel you to keep going to the end like a spell.

    The Hex leverages the fact that you are a gamer, our six main characters are all pulled from some type of genre you have played or have seen before, be it a fighting game, a turned based RPG, First Person Shooter or even an immersive sim. The Hex actually does something I really enjoyed with Inscryption and that is the rug pull, the 'when you are comfortable playing it this way,' we are going to switch it up on you but The Hex even does it better than Inscryption because this rug pull happens a lot and each time is logical why it is done.

    One minute you are fighting a dragon and managing your mana and your squad, using items to boost your stats and the next minute, you have now listening the musings of a man who may have sold his soul so he could get the bag. Overall, the experience is unlike any other and it goes even deeper than that. I mentioned in my previous Pony Island review that even tho I did not really like the gameplay, I still stuck around for the story. The story and stories (emphasis on stories) behind the scenes is part of the appeal of Daniel Mullins Games so by the end we find out who our murderer is but we are allowed to go deeper and that is when things get really crazy and I felt the deeper I got into it, the more I enjoyed it. Unlike Pony Island, which I completed and dived back in for some quick achievements but then promptly moved on from, I am still entranced by The Hex. It has worked its magic on me so I am doing lore dives, I am doing multiple quick runs (again thanks to the wonders of Chapter Select, such a great tool you get once you beat the game) to unlock more achievements and find out more secrets. Like Inscryption, I am invested in this world and it is a trip. Also kudos to DMG for planting seeds in The Hex that would come to fruition in Inscryption and also building on the over-reaching meta story he established in Pony Island (long and short, Satan loves game development, make of that what you will).

    However despite all this praise, I still feel I need to give The Hex the second highest recommendation on this blog which is Rave (not all caps). I enjoyed my time with it no doubt but some of game design could get a bit too obtuse and the puzzle solving aspects to get to the 'game within a game' parts felt a bit drawn out for me. Also, DMG decided to bring back my least favorite element of all his games. The faux-programmer scenes.

    

Hello Darkness my Old Friend.

    

    Again referencing my Pony Island review, the faux-programming scenes are my least favorite aspects of the game and in all honesty, the aspect of having to do them again really puts me off wanting to play it again for the achievements. There is a similar type of puzzles in Inscryption and they are also my least favorite part of that game as well. It is funny that this time time around, DMG actually acknowledged how it is not for everyone and how the main reason why it exists is to give people a preview into what it is like to 'code' for games but sadly the fact that it comes near the tail end of the game when I was really enjoying, as artificial road blocks, it really brought my mood down. Now unlike Pony Island's 'puzzles' The Hex makes them much more manageable and I only really got 'stuck' on one or two of them and was able to solve them without a guide but overall it was no way near as rage educing as Pony Island's ones.

    

    I also thought the soundtrack was only passable especially compared to Inscryption perfect mood music however I will say the OST used during the FPS scenes are bangers and I enjoyed that a lot. Overall, this aspects mentioned in the last couple paragraphs brought The Hex down a couple notches in my book and makes it still a very enjoyable game with a amazing story but honestly like Pony Island, it truly feels like both it and this game were just the stepping stones DMG needed to really cut their teeth on before making a truly amazing experience. It is with this in mind, I feel DMG next big game 'Pony Island 2: Panda Circus' will be even better and take me back to the highs Inscryption did for me.

Game 'Crashes'. Fourth Wall breaks? Yep We are so Back.

    I will not lie. I had no idea until I went back to re-read my Pony Island OKAY review to realize it had been almost a full year since I played it. I bought both Pony Island and The Hex as a double pack after falling completely in love with Inscryption and I was looking forward to playing both of them. However the Pony Island experience was just not for me and it actually made me not look forward to playing The Hex because I thought it would be more of the same. Thankfully, I decided to finally move past it (only took a year lol) and I am happy I did. Whilst it is not as mind altering as Inscryption was it does tell me I do enjoy Daniel Mullins Games and that I enjoy the ideas he brings. Especially with gaming rapidly getting more vapid and artificial. Triple A games are becoming so boring to me and the makers of these game are always looking into whatever ways they can nickel and dime us and turn our hobby/ passion into monetary gains *cough Ubisoft cough* so it makes me happy we have Indie game makers like DMG making games for gamers.

    Performance-wise I played this entirely on my Steam Deck with M&K and I had zero problems setting it up and no crashes (unless I made it crash lol). This is no surprise because it is now 7 yrs old and it is already not a super taxing game graphics wise but still a win is a win. It also is actually very cheap even when it is not on sale and it is constantly on sale too.

    

    The Hex is surprisingly not talked about much outside of the DMG community. A lot of people know about Inscryption now (especially since Playstation has it for free on their PS Plus catalogue, play Inscryption if you have not btw) and it surprisingly getting a lot of attention from the streamer community. Folks know about Pony Island and that it is a mind breaking trip to the point where it is actually getting a sequel but The Hex looks like it is lost in the shuffle and I really feel it deserves more love hence this Rave. This is a type of game that sticks with you, that makes you want to explore every nook and cranny inside and outside of the game to extract as many secrets from it as you can. More than anything, it is a compelling illusion of simple game design hiding complex depth and well deserving of this Rave.

AV

RAVE: Indies' Lies

 It is time for another RAVE. After our last RANT, I have decided to bring it back to positivity. Funny enough tho for awhile, this RAVE might have been changed to our new category which is called 'OKAY' but after playing it again and at higher difficulties, I came around to appreciating it again. On that note: Let's talk Indies' Lies!

Indies' Lies is a surprisingly deep deck building rogulite created by Fun Square Games set in the fantasy world of Mecca. Even without the DLC, the game comes with 3 main classes whom are the Wizards, the Mechanist (my personal favorite class) and the Rangers with the Knights being added in the DLC the Alrayan Undertow. Each class comes with 3 main characters so you'll have a adequate pic of characters to use. The character art is one of the highlights even tho some of the female characters do spin towards Dragon's Crown top heavy-ness (players of the game y'all know whom I am talking about). Despite that, the male character are just as robust and heroic and there is some really good designs. It helps that the characters have 'character' because each one comes with their own exclusive story mode which is unique for this type of game and the story even expands into the main game. All in all, its a pretty game and you won't mind looking at it. The world is colorful the backgrounds are diverse and as par it's genre, the animation of what there is, is well made and illustrates the point of what you are doing, be it attacking, defending or casting spells.

However with the visuals being a highlight the audio and the very repetitive sound track is definitely a lowlight. I think I have maybe been spoiled by Hopoo's games and their super talented composer Chris Christodolou (RAVE about him still coming) but it being an indie game might mean one of the things they cut back on was the soundtrack. The music plays it safe and after awhile becomes nothing but background noise and half way through my full playthrough of the game I turned it off completely and started using my own soundtrack. I just turned it back on for this review and it sadly reminded me why I turned it off. Its not bad, it just not memorable and one thing I've noticed is a lot of indie games I've been enjoying lately also have very good soundtracks. Of course, Risk of Rain 2 and Deadbolt come to mind by Iratus: Lord of the Dead and Katana Zero also had some really good tunes. The actually sound effects, the grunts and sounds of slashing and blocking are also very serviceable but again nothing memorable. I honestly can see myself playing this game on mute and not missing much. It definitely does not detract from the game tho but it is worth a mention.

Where Indies' Lies does shine through is it gameplay. Clearly inspired by Slay the Spire (another amazing deck building rogulite which helped me get into the genre) and other deck builders like it, Indies' Lies is all about turned based battles as your explore a dangerous grid of randomize enemies and events. Along the way, stop at some stores, heal at alters and plot your way to the end boss of 3 challenging areas. Along the way, you earn and trade for cards to help build your deck/ build you are aiming for. Wanna go hog-wild and do nothing but stab folks? Go for it. Poison is your jam? That is possible. Want to be become such a tank that 94 damaging hits from enemies just tickles you? Yep you can do that too. The game does not feel restrictive at all and eventually you'll find something that suits you and your playstyle. Like all deck builders, finding your own synergies and broken OP combos is half of the fun.

However if it was a carbon copy of Slay the Spire (which some haters have called it on Steam) it would not be a RAVE and I would not be telling y'all about it. However Indies' Lies brings of it's own unique nuances to the board and those are what made me enjoy it more.

First are 'Rune' cards. Runes are simply utility cards, some give you extra energy to play more cards, some let you restore health, some help you recall a banished card, some help you inflict poison on enemies. Rune cards by themselves are helpful but where the fun really comes in is when you combined the Rune cards with your battle cards. Now your battle card does 6 damage x 6 now poisons the opponent as well. How about the gaining double the energy but also being able to recall a card you just banished which was previously only usable once or my personal favorite, energy cards that lower the cost of battle cards so a massive nuke card that does 60+ damage goes from a 2 energy card to a ZERO energy card. Rune cards when used correctly can really change the game and the game even has a feature where you can even add Runes to cards who did not have Rune spots by 'Punching' it at the Blacksmith or adding extra Rune slots for really powerful cards to make them even more powerful.

The second unique element of Indies' is the ability to play with a team. After beating a stage you can add a partner whom uses a deck different then yours. Partner do not have their full deck of abilities (because that would be broken) but the abilities they do bring can be very helpful in a pinch and some can really turn the tides. Again the customization in the 'main' game allows you to choose out of 3 partners each time you beat a stage or if you want to, even forego a partner and get a extra buff. This unique mechanic turns it from just a deck builder into a Squad deck builder as well. I enjoyed making a team which is catered to my build and the flexibility it brought. I could have a squad member like Daniel (a mage) be my healer and Rohan (a knight) be my tank whilst I'm the main damage dealer. This flexibility and customization made each run unique in its own way.

However as I mentioned about, Indies' Lies almost was a OKAY and not a RAVE because as I was playing it, I started getting bored of some of the elements. It also did not help that one of the story modes I was playing had a very broken boss and I felt their was no way around him. I tried to fight this boss multiple times and he kept wiping the floor with me and my team to the point where I almost gave up. I, however had a change of heart and I began exploring and like how Risk of Rain 2 rewards you for doing certain objectives, I realized Indies' had a similar way of rewarding achievements. Play at higher difficulty levels (which there is a lot!) unlock more cards, beat a certain character a certain way, another unlock. Beat the main game with no partners, unlock. This different way of approaching the game and forcing me to play ways I had not tried before really revitalized my interest in it and the OKAY became a RAVE again and that is why we are here. I am still unlocking more difficulties (some which are really challenging and force me to think outside of the box) and I finally found a way to beat the OP boss I mentioned above by doing just that. Surprisingly most Roguelites I've enjoyed playing I start with playing for fun and then ramp up the challenge with subsequent playthroughs and Indies' Lies has tapped that need in me as well.

In conclusion, if you are a fan of the genre, enjoy strategic based gameplay, like cool kind of anime/ kind of high fantasy art or just a big fan of boobs (I had to throw it in there... sorry). Indies' Lies might scratch that itch for you. I think you'll find it worthwhile and have fun with it because would I lie to you?

AV